The Twisted Metal videogame franchise has seen its highs and lows. After five attempts in six years, file the series' latest entry, Twisted Metal: Black, under the 'semi-got-it-right' category. This is a distinction normally reserved for the annual updates of EA Sports titles, but it's also applicable here because the most enduring characteristic of Twisted Metal: Black isn't its innovation, but its refinement.

What kind of strange hold does Star Wars and LucasArts have over this industry? With every Star Wars game release, the video game industry salivates. It doesn't even matter that we get stinkers like Shadows Of The Empire, Jedi Power Battles and many of the other forgettable releases, the next announcement always brings more cheers from the press as if it were the first. It's no more evident than with Star Wars: Starfighter.

It wasnt until after playing Gran Turismo 3 (GT3) for several more weeks did I finally "get it." I finally figured out that whether or not one will enjoy GT3 boils down to essentially one thing: the "feel" of the driving physics. You either accept it or reject it. You either love it or you hate it.

Gran Turismo 3: A-spec (GT3) is arguably the epitome of racing simulators. In it, vehicles can be customized and upgraded; cars mimic the physics of their real-life counterparts (if the term physics is too abstract, perhaps a more suitable term would be feel); and graphics and sound are as lifelike as current technology will allow. Why, you can even take your car for a wash and an oil change!

Living actors and actresses can all breathe a sigh of relief. Why? Because if the first-of-its-kind, all-computer-generated (CG) sci-fi movie, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, proves one thing, it’s that technology still has quite a long way to go in artificially recreating human expression physically and emotionally on the big screen.

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